Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Hah! Just twenty million cubes.” Daolord Solesky shook his head. “I was planning to at least hit him for fifty million! I know he has an extremely valuable life-saving treasure; that treasure alone is worth fifty million. I blame Battlemaster! You kept on telling me to back off. Otherwise, there’s no way I would’ve let him off the hook that easily.”

  “You were being too hard on him.” Daolord Battlemaster sipped some wine from the cup in his hands. “He’s just wary of Darknorth’s future potential, but in truth there’s nothing we can do to him right now. If you pushed him too far, he could just begin to evacuate Clearwind Temple and make it impossible for us to find him… and he might scheme in secret against us to take revenge. That would be nothing but trouble.”

  “To him, that life-saving treasure is more important than Clearwind Temple itself.” Daolord Battlemaster sighed. “He only acquired it after experiencing countless dangers over the course of many years. You want him to hand it over? He’d rather you wipe out Clearwind Temple.”

  Solesky coughed a few times.

  Powerful cultivators would usually expend their wealth on creating secret arts or powerful magic treasures. It was very rare for them to actually trade those things away to others! For example, the treasures which Daolord Solesky and Daolord Clearwind had, all combined, were definitely worth over a hundred million cubes each. The problem was that the actual amount of ‘liquid’ wealth they had was much less, as some of those treasures they needed for combat.

  Ning’s six lifeblood weapons, his Hegemon armor, and his Hegemon Dao-seals… they too would not be traded to others.

  “It was all thanks to Ji Ning.” Solesky looked at Ning. “Ji Ning, take the twenty million.” As he spoke, he sent a storage treasure flying towards Ning.

  “No way.” Ning was badly shocked. How could he accept all this?

  “You are just a Daolord of the Second Step. You’ll need more treasures in the future. Just take it,” Daolord Solesky urged, but Ning steadfastly refused.

  The nearby Battlemaster said, “Brother Darknorth, you are a brand new Daolord. You’ll need to spend money to create an avatar for yourself. A perfect avatar will cost roughly ten million cubes, all by itself. You’ll need to spend money in other areas as well. Just take it.”

  Ning could tell that saying no was not an option. He said, “Then I’ll take half for now. If you keep pressing me, I won’t take anything.”

  “Haha! Fine, fine, fine.” Solesky shook his head. “We won’t press you, alright? Brother Brightfish, you are also a Daolord of the Second Step. Take five million! Battlemaster, the rest is yours.”

  “Big brother?” Battlemaster immediately protested.

  “This isn’t necessary, big brother. You can’t do this,” Daolord Brightfish immediately said.

  “My true body is in the Waveshift Realm. Once I gain what I need from it, I will immediately begin my Daomerge.” Daolord Solesky shook his head. “It doesn’t matter if I succeed or if I fail in my Daomerge; either way, more treasure will be useless to me.”

  Ning, Battlemaster, and Brightfish all felt their hearts grow heavy.

  Solesky had lived far longer than the rest of them. He was preparing for his Daomerge, and everyone knew that this virtually spelled a death sentence! Far, far too few were able to succeed in this process.

  “Come, come! Have some more wine. Now that Vastheaven Palace has Darknorth as a member, I can face my Daomerge with much more confidence.” Daolord Solesky laughed loudly. “And today, my old enemy finally bowed his head before me. What an absolutely wonderful feeling! This feels better than gaining any amount of treasures.”

  ……

  For now, Ning elected to remain within his Darknorth Estate and quietly train inside it.

  Ning had earned a total of thirteen million cubes worth of treasure from Patriarch Clearwind and Daolord Blesswind. Ten million would be used to purchase suitable materials for the creation of a perfect avatar for himself!

  Within an estate-world.

  Whooooooosh. This was a world of icy darkness, a world where a freezing wind howled through the skies. The icy wind filling the estate-world came from a black cave, and deep within the cave there was an ice-locked figure. Next to that figure sat a white-robed youth in the lotus position. The white-robed figure’s entire body was emanating an unearthly level of power that was being poured into the ice-locked figure.

  Time slowly flowed on.

  Crack! Crack! Crack! The layers of ice around the figure began to crack apart.

  Boom! The ice shattered, allowing the formerly ice-bound figure to fly out. His body was completely nude, and he emanated an aura of endless ice and cold. His appearance was identical to Ji Ning’s. Moments later, a layer of golden clothing appeared on his body.

  The golden-robed Ning and the white-robed Ning glanced at each other.

  “Mm. My avatar has finally taken form. It now has a tenth of my full power. The rest will be a matter of time.” The white-robed Ning nodded slightly, then smiled. “Fellow Daoist Avatar, I’ll have to trouble you to stay in Vastheaven Palace for now.”

  “I’ll naturally follow your requests, true body.” This was the golden-robed Ning’s response.

  In truth, the two shared the same memories and thoughts. This was nothing more than a bit of an amusing diversion for Ning.

  His avatar contained the same Dao as he himself used. However… it didn’t have the azureflower seal! Ning had tested out his avatar. It could use most divine abilities and secret arts, but it was unable to train in the Nine Chaos Seals no matter what!

  “When my avatar uses the Hegemon’s divine ability, it is capable of incredible power as well. The only problem is, it can’t sustain it for too long.” Ning shook his head. “Well, since my avatar has been formed, it is time for me to leave Vastheaven Palace.”

  ……

  Ning went to meet with Daolord Solesky in private.

  “Leaving Vastheaven Palace? When are you planning to go?” Daolord Solesky wasn’t surprised.

  “No point in wasting time. I’ll leave tomorrow.” Ning smiled.

  Daolord Solesky nodded. “You are going to be going through a period of explosive growth. This is indeed the best time for you to go out adventuring! But when you are adventuring, you must be cautious, especially of Daolords of the Fourth Step. Don’t underestimate any Daolord of the Fourth Step; one of them might have an ability or Dao that perfectly counters yours.”

  “Understood.” Ning nodded. The only reason why he had gone out to fight Patriarch Clearwind was because he had a clear understanding of the man’s powers. In the outside world, he would have to be far more cautious.

  There were Daolords who could move even faster than ten times the speed of light, after all.

  “Big brother, there is one thing I wish to trouble you about,” Ning said.

  “We’re brothers. No need to stand on ceremony. Just tell me what you need,” Daolord Solesky said.

  “I wish to go to a Sacred City of the Dao Alliance,” Ning said.

  The Dao Alliance was the strongest of the six major powers in the Endless Territories. 99% of the territories were controlled by the Dao Alliance. Its only weakness was that it was not tightly governed and was a very loose organization, with many of the ancient, reclusive powers within it being figures with strange dispositions. If the Dao Alliance was truly unified and stood together, there was no way the other five organizations could possibly compete against it.

  The Dao Alliance was absolutely unfathomable. Treasures, divine abilities, secret arts… the Dao Alliance was supreme in every area. Over the courses of countless years, many figures like Emperor Heartsword and Daolord Allgod had left behind their legacies to the Dao Alliance.

  “Makes sense. We are Palace Lords of Vastheaven Palace, which means we are members of the Dao Alliance.” Daolord Solesky nodded. “You really should go to the Dao Alliance to check things out.”

  * * *

  Book 29, Chapter 22 - Tra
ilblazing

  “The Dao Alliance covers too much territory. It has a total of eight Sacred Cities and is led by the Dao Alliance’s Palace of Immortals,” Daolord Solesky said. “Daolords normally head to the nearest Sacred City. This makes travel much simpler.”

  Ji Ning nodded. The distance between each of the cities was incredibly far, and the journey would be filled with many dangers. To physically travel all the way from one Sacred City to another one across so many territories was simply too taxing.

  “The closest Sacred City to us… given that you fly a bit faster than me, you should be able to make it there in around a thousand years,” Daolord Solesky said. “I’ve already reported the addition of a new Daolord within Vastheaven Palace to the Dao Alliance. Once you reach the Sacred City, first go and retrieve a Dao Alliance medallion. Otherwise, there will be many places within the Sacred City which you cannot enter.”

  “Understood.” Ning nodded. The Dao Alliance did have enemies, such as the Dark Kingdom. There were many places within the Dao Alliance which outsiders simply were forbidden from entering!

  “You can enter all eight of the Sacred Cities. The Dao Alliance’s Palace of Immortals, however, is our true core. No one is permitted to enter unless they are invited by the palace itself. Only then can they enter,” Daolord Solesky said. “Generally speaking, fairly powerful Daolords of the Fourth Step stand a good chance at receiving an invitation. Given how formidable you are, Ji Ning, you should be able to get an invitation in the future as well.”

  Ning nodded.

  The headquarters of the six major forces were all mysterious, inscrutable places. The Palace of Immortals was the most mysterious and the most powerful of the six. Supposedly, it held the secrets behind the reason why the Dao Alliance had been able to maintain supremacy for so long without falling. However, very few knew the truth behind those secrets.

  “There’s one more thing I need to warn you about.” Daolord Solesky suddenly seemed to remember something. He immediately warned solemnly, “The Dao Alliance is simply enormous, and so it is quite chaotic as well. It holds many different organizations within it, and the eight Sacred Cities are all led by different organizations. Every single Sacred City has certain ancient, powerful freaks ruling them from the shadows. No matter what, you must not let yourself get dragged into the internal battles of the Dao Alliance. My guess is, once your true power is revealed, they’ll definitely try to recruit someone as talented as you into their fold.”

  “The eight Sacred Cities all belong to different organizations?” Ning was amazed. “So there are at least eight different competing ‘branches’?”

  “Nine main ones, actually. There are also many smaller organizations as well. To put it succinctly, the Dao Alliance is incredibly chaotic,” Daolord Solesky said. “Supposedly, this involves some of the deepest secrets of the Palace of Immortals. Daolords of the Fourth Step like me and Battlemaster would never dare to get involved in these matters. Only those old freaks and some truly unearthly Daolords would dare to get involved. Even if you do wish to get involved, you should only do so after becoming a Daolord of the Fourth Step yourself. Otherwise, you’ll end up dying without even realizing what is happening. The civil wars that erupt within the Dao Alliance are more vicious than anywhere else.”

  Ning was speechless.

  The reason why the civil wars within the Dao Alliance were so frenzied was actually because the other five major forces in the Endless Territories were too weak; they might occasionally take a few provocative actions against the Dao Alliance, but they would never dare to launch any large-scale wars.

  ……

  Whoosh.

  A vessel was soaring through the space of the primordial chaos. Atop the flying vessel were Su Youji, Daolord Pillsaint, and the white-robed Ji Ning.

  They had already departed from Vastheaven Palace and had embarked upon an even greater journey.

  “Master, this doesn’t seem to be the way to the Sacred City, is it?” Pillsaint was puzzled.

  “We’re going to take a detour first. We’re going to my homeland first.” Ning smiled. “It isn’t too far away. We’ll go to the Sacred City of the Dao Alliance after that.”

  “Your homeland?” Su Youji was curious. “Where is it?”

  “You’ll know when you get there.” Ning chuckled. “However, you aren’t allowed to tell others as to where my homeland is located.”

  “Understood,” Su Youji and Pillsaint both said. Ning nodded.

  It would take a thousand years to get to the nearest Sacred City. By comparison, heading back to the Three Realms, given his current speed, would only take a century!

  “Master and Windfiend are planning to leave the Three Realms after making their breakthroughs. They wish to go explore the Endless Territories and gain a better understanding of the greater world outside.” Ning frowned. “The spatial tunnel leading from the Badlands Territory to my homeland isn’t very stable, and there are many dimensional tears within it. If they aren’t lucky, they might end up being sucked into one of the tears and be teleported to who-knows-where.”

  “It has been so many years, but I’ve heard no news of Mother Nuwa at all. I’m afraid that she must have been trapped within one of those tears and was teleported away.” This was Ning’s hypothesis.

  That unstable vortex passageway was extremely dangerous. Given Ning’s level of power, he could use his sword-intent to suppress and stabilize the vortex, but how could Subhuti and the others possibly be strong enough to do the same?

  “It seems I’ll have to engage in a bit of trailblazing. I’ll have to establish a safe and secure route from the Badlands Territory to the Three Realms,” Ning mused.

  The many ‘safe routes’ on the star maps of the Endless Territories had all been discovered by countless generations of exploring cultivators.

  “My Primaltwin is in the Three Realms, while I am outside of it. I can sense its rough location,” Ning mused to himself. “If I continue to go forwards, I’ll reach it sooner or later, and the path I cleared would be safe for future travelers. Since I’m as strong as a Daolord of the Fourth Step and have the Hegemon’s armor on me, a bit of trailblazing shouldn’t be too difficult.”

  ……

  A hundred years later, they reached the borders of the Badlands Territory.

  “Forward ho!” The flying vessel ventured deep into the unknown, unexplored parts of the endless primordial chaos.

  Trailblazing was quite a dangerous decision, as you might encounter certain dangerous locations along the way. Ning only dared to do this because of how powerful he had become.

  Ning sat there in the lotus position on the deck of his vessel. He could sense some of the dangers that were located within a certain distance from him. He was the master of the Omega Sword Dao, which was why he could in fact be titled as the ‘master of the Dao of the Sword’. The prime essence of the Dao of the Sword filled every inch of the universe, and it served as Ning’s ‘eyes’. The stronger Ning’s soul became and the higher level his insights into the Dao of the Sword reached, the greater distance he would be able to ‘see’ using the Dao of the Sword.

  After much nurturing from the azureflower mist energy, Ning’s soul was now comparable to that of most Daolords of the Fourth Step.

  Ning raised his head to stare off into the distance. “There is some danger roughly sixty trillion kilometers away from us. Most Daolords who enter that place will perish.”

  A star map was located across Ning’s legs. Ning put down a marking on that star map.

  He was marking down the various chaos stars and dangerous areas he encountered and saw on this journey. That way, those who used this map wouldn’t worry about getting lost.

  ……

  To travel from the Badlands Territory to the Three Realms was quite a long journey. The trailblazing ended up taking more than three hundred years, but along the way Ning was able to sense only one place of incredible danger. The other areas, a bit of vigilance would suffice.
But of course, that was only true for someone like Ning; for World-level cultivators, those places were all deathtraps!

  “Haha, we’re almost there. We are about to reach the Three Realms.” Ning could sense that his Primaltwin was fairly close now, and he revealed a smile. “We should make it there in just a few more decades.”

  Establishing a safe passageway out would benefit the members of the Three Realms for countless years to come. So long as this passageway was kept secret, outsiders would have no idea how to enter and exit the Three Realms securely. Not even Daolords of the Fourth Step would have a way to locate the Three Realms with ease; Ning was only able to accomplish it thanks to his Primaltwin serving as a guidepost for him. He was able to sense where his Primaltwin was at all times, thus ensuring that he wouldn’t get lost.

  “Master, in the past three hundred years we’ve discovered quite a few dangerous areas.” Su Youji couldn’t help but raise this issue. “The area around your homeland is a bit too dangerous, isn’t it?”

  “It is rather dangerous, yes.” Ning nodded. He too felt that the density of dangerous areas around the Three Realms was abnormally high.

  “The universe is vast and mysterious. All things are possible.” Ning smiled. Moments later, his face suddenly turned pale as a strange look appeared on his face.

  “Eh?” Ning turned to stare in a certain direction.

  “Master?” Su Youji and Pillsaint both noticed that something was off with Ning.

  Ning just stared intently off into the distance, and the outlines of the azureflower seal actually appeared on his forehead. The azureflower seal was currently resonating with a distant location. Even the azureflower region with his body was resonating!

  “Something actually caused a resonance with the azureflower seal!” Ning was both shocked and nervous.

  He had encountered quite a few fortuitous benefactors, such as the Paragon of Pills and the almighty Brightshore Hegemon. Both of them were Hegemon-level figures! He had also received the legacy of the deceased Hegemon of the Dao of the Sword. By now, Ning was a very experienced man… but the [Nine Chaos Seals], its azureflower region, and the azureflower mist energy it generated all remained completely outside of Ning’s level of understanding.